Clutch.



M. B. IRELAND.

CLUTCH.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN.22,1909.

1,014,826. Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

Y' l I HZ ZI 20 v/3 J /0 /5 UNITED 'STATES P TENT OFFICE.

MORRIS B. IRELAND, OF. NEW YORK, N. Y.

CLUTCE Application led January 22, 1909. Serial No. 473,6

.H'REISSUEJD To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, MORRIS B. IRELAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New Yorkvand State of New Yo-rk,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clutches,

of which'the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to clutches, and has particularI reference to a clutch of the type wherein adriving engagement between two shafts automatically releases upon a predetermined load being applied to the driven shaft whereby the strain on the engine and other damage may be prevented.

More particularly, the invention relates to a clutch mechanism -for'use in automobiles wherein the road 'shocksfare' prevented from being transmitted to the engine when the clutch is engaged, and 4also prevent-ing the breaking of the gears in changing the speedv and reversing, aswell as in starting. For lnstance, a driver frequently attempts vto start va vehicle upon too higha gear, which strains the gears, slips'the wheels with damage tothe tires or overloads thel engine. Bv

means of this invention, incase the vehicle" isv startedv at too high a. speed, the engagement is automatically released-to'such an extent as to permit a certain amount of vlost motion `and slip between the driving and driven shaft, and thereby the vehicle starts slowly Vand Without straining the parts -or skidding the wheels.

The invention will ybe more fully understood in connection with the description of the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l, is a vlongitudinal section of a clutch mechanism embodying the invention, the clutch moving away from the driving shaft todisengage. Fig. 2'is across section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail of the worm shaft carrying the movable clutch member.; and Fig.- 4 is a longitudinal section. of. a modified form wherein the mov-- able clutch member moves toward ythe driven shaft `in order to vdisengage, certain parts belng reversed asshown .1n Fig. 1, to

accomplishthis purpose.

l represents a driving shaft. having a driving clutch member 2 thereon.-

3 represents an intermediate shaft having abearing at one end in the driving clutch member, and squared as at 4, at Vthe other endtol engage' a bushing 5` carried by the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1912 driven shaft 6. Mounted on the intermedi# ate shaft 3 to rotate therewith is a longitudinally movable-sleeve 9 provided'with s'pi-l ral Worm grooves 10 and threaded at its-opposite ends as at 11 and 12 respectively.

13 isa movable clutch member havin the -engaging surface 14 and internal threa 15 to engagein the grooves 10 'of the; sleeve'.

16 represent lock nuts forming an abtment on the threaded end -12 of the shaft vand limiting the forward movement of4 the movable clutch member 13 in the ooveslO.

17 is an operating collar threa 'ed ontheportion 11 ofthe sleeve ,9 and llocked bya nut 18. This Acollar 17 also acts as an abutf ment for the spring 20. Between the collar and the -hub of the movable clutch member 13 is interposed a spring 2O proportioned to` lbalance ata cert-ain compression, the predetermined load which the v'clutch is totransmit. The vload vto be transmitted by the clutch withoutdisengagement is adjusted .by means of a set screw 30 vbearing on the operating vlever-21 pivoted at 22 on the frame of the zmachine.

. 23 is a spring interposed between the thrust bearing 24 land the movable sleeve 3 for holding the movable clutch member 13 Yin engagement -with the drivingelutch member 2, one member of the thrust bearing constituting van abutment 'for thes ring 23.

The operation of the clutch w1ll be understood from reference to Fig. l, assuming the driving sha-ft 1,' and thedriving clutch member 2 to be rotating counter-clockwise when viewed inthe direction of the arrows in Fig.

-1 and Fig. 2. The pitch of the worm 10 is so high thatthe'spring 20'normally tends to push the clutch-member 13 toward the abutment- 16, and `at the same time thespring 23 is pushing the sleeve 9 with the clutchmelnsleeve 9 to screw through clutch member-13 until operating collar 17 has drawn operating lever 21 toward clutch member 2 and against the set screw 30' which causes all movement in sleeve 9 toward clutch member 2 to! stop, when this has `taken place the Iclutch member 13 will, if strain is strong enough, rotate backward along sleeve 9 away from clutch member 2 thus causing the disengagement of clutch member 13 from clutch member 2. -Also, it will be seen that there is a vcertain amount Iof lost motion without disengagement or slipping of the clutch to the extent that the movable clutch member is rotated relatively to the sleeve 9, so that the automatic relaxation of the driving torque is effected at first lby the forward movement toward clutch member 2 of sleeve '9 through clutch member'13 until sleeve 9'is stopped by operating levner coming against set screw .30, and.then by the slipping of driving clutch member 2 relatively to driven clutch member 13. It can now be seen that the set screw 30 will determine the compression of the spring 23 when the clutch is engaged and thereby the amounty of load which the clutch would transmit before there is any lost motion. From anotherP` point of view, if the spring 20 be assumed as omitted andthe members 2 and 13 in engagement, the latter would simply turn backward on the worm when engaged because of its high pitch and thereby not transmit any power, so that the function` of the spring 2O is broadlyto opposethis tendency and hold the movable member 13 in engagement with the drivingmember 2. In the Vcase of overload, the spring20ftends to be compressed by the backward movement of the clutch 13 -on the sleeve 9 and therebybecomes stronger while the spring 23 tends toexpand and move the sleeve 9 bodily forwardto maintain'the driving engagement. Eventually if the forward movement of sleeve 9"towardfclutch member y2 through clutch member 13 continues sleeve 9 will be compelled to stop its forward movement by reason of being held by operating lever 21 which in turn will come in cont-act with set screw 30. Then clutch member 13 will rotate backward on sleeve 9 against spring 20 and as sleeve 9 can not move forward and clutch member rotates backward away from clutch member 2, it'will be seen that their backward move-v ment away from clutch member 2 of clutch member ,'13 will cause the disengagement or slipping of the two parts. When the foot lever 21 is depressed to disengage the clutch, the spring 23 is compressed and this permits theispring 20 to push the clutch member 13 forwardly on` the worm 10 until it strikes the abutment 1G, the driving surfaces being allY at this time in engagement. When the movable clutch member 13 can ller'.

go no farther forward by reason of the abutments 16, the actual disengagement of the drivingsurfaces commences, itbeing jassumed thatthe operator is during all of this time depressing the foot lever 21. It can thus be seen that the clutch disengages gently as well as, engages gently, which is an important advantage of this invention.

In Fig. 4 the parts are somewhat 'differently arrafnged but operate in the same man- In this case the thrust bearing 24 is located within the driving clutch member 2 which is provided with a detachable friction ring 28, and the'l driven clutch member 13 is within the member 28 and formed as a sleeve toV inclose the' spring 20a', the' worm threads 15abeing at the rear end immediately adjacent the abutment nuts 16a; Also,

the pitch of the worm is reversed and'likej wise the adjusting nut. 30by reason of the location ofthe pivot 22a of the lever 21a at the lower end instead of at the middle as in Fig. 1.' Also, the spring 23 is interposed between the forward end of the sleeve 9 which `forms vanl abutment and the thrust bearing 24 located in the driving clutch member 2a. that the operating tension of the spring' 20a may be adjusted where desired to suit the vehicle by means of the collar 17 and the nut 18 which are threaded on the sleeve 9 at the end 11, and that the amount of elastic vtorque can be controlled by set screw 30.

'It will be understood thatthe above described clutch is capable of use in various In both forms it will be seen other relations than simply between the engine and the change speed gear of an automobile, such for instance, as a substitute for the differential gear between the two wheels, and for various other purposes where one shaft is to be driven by another intermittently or at a diderent ratio. t

- Itwill be understood that the invention is not to be restricted to the particular construction and arrangement herein described, y

as various modifications and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention I d`e .clare that what I claim as new and desire to secure byv Letters Patent is,--

1. The combination with a driving and a driven shaft, of cooperating clutch members carried by said shafts, one of said clutch members being movably mounted to releasably engage the other member, and means whereby upon a. predetermined load the shaft carrying one of said clutch members is permitted to rotate diiferentially with respect to said clutch member.

2. The combination with a driving and a driven shaft, of a releasable clutch connection bet-Ween the two shafts, said clutch including a movable member mounted on one of said shafts for clutching lthe other shaft,

and' means whereby upon a predetermined load, the movable clutch member is moved in a direction tending to release the driving connection and relatively to its shaft.

3. The combination with a driving and a driven shaft, of a releasable clutch connection between the two shafts, said clutch including a member mounted to move longitudinally on one of said shafts toward and from the other clutch member, means for holding the clutch members in engagement, and means whereby -upon a predetermined load the movable clutch member is moved longitudinally and rotated relatively to its shaft to relieve the driving torque.

4. The combination with a driving and a driven shaft, of a friction clutch for releasablyconnecting said shafts, means for holdto engage the clutch members, and a spring .carried by the sleeve andresiliently holding the movable clutch member from turningV backward on said sleeve when engaged.

6.A The combination with a driving and a driven clutch member, of a spring for` holding said members engaged, a sleeve carrying a clutch member` and moved by said spring to engage the clutch members. said clutch' member carried by the sleeve being movably .mounted kthereon to have a relative spiral 'movement when engaged, and a spring carried by said sleeve and opposing such spiral movement.

7. The combination with a driving clutch member, of a driven shaft, a sleeve having an abutment and splined on said driven shaft, a driven clutch member rotatably and longitudinally movable on Vsaid sleeve, a spring on said sleeve bearing against said driven clutch member and said abutment on Vsaid sleeve, a second spring between an abutment on said driven shaft and said sleeve, and 4operating means for said sleeve.

8. The combination with a driving clutch member, of adriven shaft, a sleeve having an abutment and splined on said driven shaft, a driven yclutch member rotatably and longitudinally movable on said sleeve, a spring on said sleeve bearing against said driven clutch member and said abutment on said sleeve, a second spring between an abut menton said driven shaft and said sleeve, means limiting the movement of said sleeve to clutching position, and operating means for said sleeve.`

9. The combination with a driving and a driven shaft, of ycoperating clutch members carried by said shafts, the driven clutch member beingv movably mounted on the driven shaft to releasably engage the driving clutch member, means for holding the members in engagement, and means whereby upon apredetermined load the shaft carrying the driven clutch memberl is per.- mitted ,to rotate differentially with respect to said driven clutch member a predetermined amount, and to thereupon reduce the holding force ,and permit the clutch members to slip. v

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

MORRIS B. IRELAND.

Witnesses:v

J. S. lVoosrER, GEO. N. KERR. 

